Working at the intersection of marine conservation and social, economic, and environmental justice.

At the intersection of marine conservation and social, economic, environmental and food justice

Thursday, February 20, 2014

From a Farm Bill to a Fish Bill, We'll Work With What We Have

This post comes to us from Brett Tolley, NAMA's community organizer.

Earlier this month I was in Washington D.C. the day after
the Farm Bill passed through Congress. After a train power outage
(that's another story) I had to run to make my first meeting at
the USDA. I arrived late but felt at ease once I looked around the table and met
eyes with many of our family farm and sustainable business allies.

American Sustainable Business Council members at the White House

Then the topic
of the Farm Bill came up. I saw those same eyes turn to unease. There was silence.
A couple of sighs. Followed by a deep breath and a collective “Okay here we are,
lets work with what we’ve got."

Sitting around that table I closed my eyes for a second.
Earlier that same week Congress held its first hearing to discuss a draft Fish Bill. I imaged a few years out, when the Fish Bill passes, what would our
collective reaction be? Will our eyes show approval with the Fish Bill’s
outcome? Or will they show something different? Then I quickly opened my eyes
and said to myself hey, I should pay attention and learn something here!

Our partners at the National Family Farm Coalition, who were
among the friendly faces in DC, put out this statement about the Farm
Bill. Its no surprise there are some good aspects and some not-so-good aspects,
with much of the good due to hard fought efforts by the NFFC and many others.

I was struck by a comment by NFFC’s board president Ben Burkett, who
said,

“From the first Farm Bill in 1933, the purpose has been to ensure fair
prices to farmers so that they can provide food and fiber for the American
people. Now we have an export-driven Farm Bill and are told that we are
producing food for the world, which benefits only multi-national corporations.”

Striking, because if you
switch the dates of the Farm Bill and replace farmers with fishermen, you might as well be
talking about the Fish Bill.

The Fish Bill, also known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, first became law in 1976 and gets revisited
and updated by congress every 10 years or so. Like the Farm Bill, over time the benefits are concentrating into an ever- smaller segment of the fishing industry, leaving family fishers and the public high and dry.

As the fishing fleet consolidates into fewer and bigger
operations, we’re not only losing ground ecologically, socially, and
economically, but politically, too. Fewer voices are showing up
to the table, which translates into policy that favors export-driven business
and ignores the wisdom and needs of family fishermen as well as the needs of the ocean.

The needs of family fishermen are pretty simple; fair price,
access to local markets, and protection of the resources which fishing
businesses depend upon. These needs are not that far off from the needs of
family farmers, small-scale sustainable businesses in general, or to go a step
further, from the needs of a healthy local food system.

Later on that day, after joining our partners the American Sustainable Business Council for meetings with White House and Congress, I closed my eyes again to imagine a few
years out when the Fish Bill passes.